The Top Ten: Yiddish words

John Rentoul

John Rentoul is chief political commentator for The Independent on Sunday, and visiting professor at King's College, London, and at Queen Mary University of London. Previously he was chief leader writer for The Independent. He has written a biography of Tony Blair, whom he admired more at the end of his time in office than he did at the beginning.

Thank you to Michael Fishberg and Matt Hoffman for this one. Matt noodged me to do it. Chutzpah has already featured in 'Top 10 useful words for which there is no English equivalent', which is just as well, because competition for these 10 places was fierce.

1. Shtum Silent, with a few layers of extra meaning, as with most of these.